Alya's Diary
by GregUnplugged
Summary: Alya is having a normal day with her friend, but it ends up being anything but normal.


**15 Nov 2018 - The most exciting day of my life!**

Hi. This is Alya Césaire, and I can't believe what just happened today! Since I can't write about it in my ladyblog, I'll talk about it here in my diary.

Well, it started out as a normal Friday here in Paris. The weather was perfect and it definitely would have been better if it was a Saturday, but at least classes were finally over for the week. After coming out of what turned out to be a particularly long and boring history class, Mari and I walked down the hall and through the front door.

We watched a limo pull up in front of the school. Adrien ran past us down the steps, waving to us and smiling. I gave him a wave back and kept walking, but I soon realized that Mari had stopped behind me. I turned around and saw her there, still standing on the fourth step waving and staring, with that same silly grin frozen on her face.

"Honestly girl," I told her. "I love you, but you need to pull yourself together!" She sighed and told me she knows, but he still gets her flustered. I stared at her with hands on my hips and a grin on my face, and jokingly told her that she's beyond help. I reminded her that she's been able to actually talk to him lately, and even kissed him on the cheek at the celebration after Heroes' Day. It's amazing how insecure my bestie still is when it comes to Adrien.

Mari was coming back to my house today so we could catch up on studying for some tests next week. We walked down the sidewalk together, laughing about some of the crazy stories we'd heard at lunch, and making plans for the weekend. I told her Nino and I were going to the zoo, and she said she'd be helping her parents out in the bakery, then working on some of her designs.

We'd gone about four or five blocks and had just turned the corner when we heard Nadja Chamack's voice on the big-screen TV in the window of the electronics store, warning of a new akuma attack happening near the Eiffel Tower. I made some comment about how many attacks there have been in the past month, and that I was too tired today to chase after the akuma for my blog, so I'd just leave it for Ladybug to handle.

Mari started rummaging through her bag nervously. Apparently she left her math book at school, and told me to go on ahead while she went back and looked for it. We waved at each other as she went back around the corner. I started to head home, shaking my head and wondering, how can a girl that smart be so absent-minded?

Then it hit me...not only was there no math class today, but last night she and I had studied math together at my house to get ready for the test next week, and we both left our books there. Wow, she's really taking being absent-minded to a whole new level! I called out for her, but she was already out of range. I thought, maybe I should try to catch up with her and keep her from going all the way back to school? I was tired, but I didn't have anything else going on.

I went back around the corner and saw Mari running in the distance. I knew I could reach her if I worked at it, so I took off running down the sidewalk toward her. I was making headway, but was impressed by how fast she could run. I remember thinking, she really needs to sign up for the track team!

After about thirty seconds, I had to stop for a minute to catch my breath, and bent over with my hands on my knees. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea_ , I thought, and was actually feeling a little queasy from pushing myself so hard. After a few seconds, I looked up and saw that Mari had also stopped up ahead, maybe half a block from where I was. I would have yelled out for her then, but I was too winded from running.

I saw her glance around quickly, then run into an alley between two buildings. But why? She was still a block away from the school, and I knew that all of those alleys were dead ends. Maybe she had to take a bathroom break? Whatever the reason, I kept walking, ready to call out to her when she came out.

And that's when it happened.

As I got closer, I suddenly saw a reddish, flickering glow on the side of the alley. A second later, an object shot out of the alley toward the top of a building across the street. I hid behind a nearby tree and kept watching. Then I saw Ladybug fly out of the alley, holding onto the rope of her yo-yo. She landed on the building, and ran along it in the other direction.

Wow... so Mari must have run into Ladybug in the alley! I thought, why can't things like that ever happen to ME?! I started running ahead as fast as I could, calling out her name. When I finally reached the alley, I got the surprise of my life.

It looked empty at first glance. As I walked through, all I saw were two dumpsters and four service doors, all of them closed and locked. As crazy as it sounds, I checked inside the dumpsters, thinking that she may have wanted to get out of Ladybug's way. I walked around the alley with a puzzled look. It took me a few minutes to convince myself that Mari really was gone.

Then, just behind one of the dumpsters, I spotted a school bag leaning against the wall. I looked inside, and on the front of a notebook I saw the name "Marinette Dupain-Cheng" written in Mari's handwriting.

I felt dizzy and had to sit down. It was finally starting to sink in, and it explained so much. It explains her strange disappearances. It explains the bad excuses. And it explains why Ladybug came to me after my sisters were akumatized, and presented me with the fox miraculous. I always wondered why, out of all the people in Paris, did Ladybug give it to ME? Well, who better to choose than your best friend, someone you know you can trust?

I was also mentally comparing what I know about Ladybug to what I know about Mari. My friend is kind, smart and talented, but she's also one of the most self-conscious and awkward people I know….nothing like Ladybug. On the other hand, their voices are pretty similar... they're the same height... and have the same hair color...and the same facial structure...

 _Oh my gosh, OF COURSE Marinette is Ladybug! I see it now, and it makes perfect sense!_

I wanted to slap myself for not figuring it out sooner. Ever since I started the ladyblog, one of my goals has been to learn Ladybug's true identity. I've considered it the holy grail of investigative journalism. But now that I know she's my best friend, could I really give away her secret?

Then my mind took a darker turn... how could my best friend have kept this from me? Ladybug's always told me how important it is for a superhero to keep their identity a secret, and I took her advice to heart by not telling Marinette that I was Rena Rouge. But now it turns out that Mari already KNOWS that, so why wouldn't she share her secret with ME, if we're really that close? I could feel myself starting to tear up...I took off my glasses, covered my eyes with my hands and started crying. I wasn't even sure exactly why I broke down. Maybe I was feeling a little betrayed, or was feeling that my friend doesn't trust me as much as I thought. Or it might have just been because of my dizziness. Anyway, it was the loneliest I'd felt for a while.

Okay...now that I knew, I had to decide whether or not to confront her about it, or to pretend like nothing happened. There's a reason she doesn't want to let me know and I should respect that, even though I wish she could have told me. Of course, I never set out to betray her privacy and shouldn't feel guilty about any of this.

I wasn't sure what to do, and I must have drifted off without realizing it. Because the next thing I remember was hearing a girl calling out my name. "Alya? Oh my God, are you okay?" I slowly opened my eyes and saw Mari in front of me. Her expression conveyed a sense of both concern and anxiety. She had her hand over her mouth and a look of realization in her eyes.

 _Oh geez… well, now I'm out of options._

After my mind cleared, I flashed a little smile at her. No way I could stay upset at my BFF over this. I was actually more afraid of her being upset with me for discovering her secret. All I could think of saying was, "Hey girl, look I found your books." Then I asked her to come sit down next to me and talk.

I could see that Mari had tears in her eyes. She sat down on the ground beside me, and I handed her bag to her. Then I took a breath and said, "Marinette, I really wasn't following you. Well, technically I guess I was, but it was because I knew your math book was at my house, and thought it was funny that my scatterbrained bestie forgot. I wasn't intentionally spying on you, it just sort of happened. I saw you go in the alley, and saw Ladybug come out, and I'm sorry…"

Mari threw her arms around me and whispered in my ear. She told me she was sorry too, and that she hated having to keep her secret from me for so long. I felt her tears drip on my blouse, and from her voice I could tell she was genuinely in distress. I hugged her tight.

I told her, "No problem, girl. I always knew you were the greatest, and this just seals the deal. Now I can help make bad excuses for you when you have to get away! Honestly, now that I know, I can't think of a better person to be Ladybug."

We sat there for probably half an hour talking things over. I got to meet Tikki, and I have to say she's so adorable- maybe even cuter than Trixx! Mari told me she had received the miraculous on the same day we met, and that she had almost passed it onto me because she was so scared of failing. I reminded her of that time when Ladybug dropped her history book from the sky, and wondered how nervous she must have been when I was telling her how I was about to uncover Ladybug's identity. She agreed that was pretty funny in hindsight, and we both got a good laugh out of it. We talked about a bunch of other stuff too, but after a shopkeeper gave us a funny look while taking out a bag of trash, we decided it was best to leave before we missed dinner.

So that's how I found out my best friend is actually the savior of Paris. I feel closer to her now than I ever have. I had to write all of this down for my own benefit, because that's kind of what I like to do as a blogger, and I'll definitely let Mari read this. But after that, unless she wants to have it, I'll burn this page so no one else can find out the truth. After all, friends can keep secrets, right?


End file.
